Karndean Flooring

Karndean flooring is a vinyl flooring which makes a quality alternative to the laminate flooring and real wood flooring more commonly found. Once laid the flooring shares the aesthetically pleasing look of a real wooden floor but has the more hard wearing advantage of a good laminate floor. For this reason the product has widespread commercial use and can be seen in shopping centres, etc. where it needs to withstand extreme levels of use.

Karndean does offer differnt ranges, including the Hand-Crafted Wood Collection. Within this range, I decided on a Hickory Peppercorn which looks great. Unlike laminate flooring, the planks are not interlocked but are thin and flexible and stuck directly onto a concrete loor. The advantage of this is that the floor is extremely level and neat however, it does mean that the floor needs to be prepared first,. This is done by laying a levelling screed which needs to be left to dry out, in my case, overnight.

Due to the process involved in laying the floor, I would not recommend fitting this floor yourself unless you have the relevant qualifications. It also means making sure your floor is suitable before purchasing this product. The floor needs to be checked for dampness and the levelling screed means there may be complications with skirting boards or fireplaces for example. In my case the floor is laid upto the walls and sides of the room and this works very well.

The floor itself is quite expensive. I bought mine at £45.00 per square meter, which was equivalent to similar products in real wood but slightly less that products offered by Amtico which seems to be the main competitor offering a similar product for household use. What makes the floor a lot more expesive though is the cost of fitting due to the floor screeding which is a necessity. It seemed to double the cost of flooring my living room!

So far the floor has been excellent, easy to clean and no evidence of any scratching or marking that cannot be cleaned simply with a cloth. For maintenance, I use Nova Care anti-static floor maintainer, which was recommended by the fitter. This should be applied approximately once a month and seems to do a good job.

Overall, I paid more than I had hoped for this product but it's expected long life makes it a great investment and one which I would recommend.